Tag Archives: Rand Al’Thor

I wonder if it says something about me that my 3 favorite fantasy book series are on a list of 11 “preposterously manly fantasies”?

“What makes a book series manly? Is it the action? The violence? The lack of female characters? Is it male wish-fulfillment? Misogyny? Or a combination of all these things?

I don’t know the answer for sure, but I do know that these 11 fantasy series are all in their own unique way, very, very manly. This is not necessarily a good thing… but neither is it necessarily bad. Just grab your axe and your favorite loin cloth while we journey to the manliest realms fantasy fiction has to offer.”

Since most of my fantasy writing is similar, does that mean I write in a manly fashion? Or does it mean I give men more power or time than women? I don’t know what writing in a manly way really means. I don’t believe I give men more power or story time than women. Even though, I enjoy submission in my personal life, I do not admire or like weak women. Submission does not equal powerless or weak. Furthermore, while some of my conceptions about gender roles may be considered archaic, I do not believe it is a woman’s place to submit to her husband. It is my place to submit to my partner. I do not believe a woman is obligated to submit either because of her nature or because any deity said she must. I think anyone, male or female, should have the right to submit to their partner.

Besides, unless I’m purposefully writing erotica, I don’t think any of that enters my writing. What else could it mean?

3rd on its list, the article says, “…wizard makes Richard Cypher a Seeker of Truth, he gets a Sword of Truth, he fights the evil tyrant Darken Rahl, who [spoiler] ends up being Richard’s dad. And then he fights some other folk. Along the way he falls in love with Kahlen, who isn’t awful or evil, but does end up a damsel in distress approximately 18 bazillion times over the course of the series. It’s traditionally manly!” about the Sword of Truth.

True… I decided I like Bridget Regan’s portrayal of Kahlan better than the book’s portrayal. In the books, she gets upset too often. Granted, I’ve never been in love and I’ve never faced the adversities she faced, but compared to every other book character (who faced similar events!) she seems emotionally weak. She is strong in some ways, she is the ruler of multiple nations and when she puts her mind to something, she is unrelenting. In LotS she seems more well-rounded.

Talking about the Wheel of Time, “The women have just as much power and political agency as the men – perhaps moreso, since women rule most of the main kingdoms, cultures and magical societies in the series. Unfortunately, this means while the women are constantly screwing around with politics, the men are the ones generally busy saving the world. This would be less grievous if the women in The Wheel of Time weren’t generally only bearable when they’re sleeping with the male characters. The rest of the time they’re scheming on a macro level or tormenting men with insults and general bitchiness on the micro, so that the male characters spend most of their time thinking about how awful women are, if not being outright befuddled by their insanity. Oh, and the main character, Rand Al’Thor, gets to have sex with three separate women, all of whom are just totally okay with sharing him. Aggravatingly manly!”

Hahaha, I never noticed anyone being unbearable. I did not see scheming as unbearable; I saw it as intelligent. Also, in part, politics drives countries’ decisions. Therefore, the women are orchestrating how the men must act. For example, if all the Wise Ones decided to stay in the Waste, Rand would never have a chance to command the clans.

Speaking about Lord of the Rings it says, “You could drop all the female characters from the books and lose probably less than 50 pages. In fact, there are only three female characters of note: 1) Arwen, who is Aragorn’s mostly off-page love interest, 2) Galadriel, who is the mightiest of all the Elves (according to Tolkien) but who really doesn’t do anything other than giving each member of the Fellowship a pep talk and lembas bread, and 3) Eowyn, who actually does kick some Nazgul ass, although she has to disguise herself as a man to get the opportunity. There’s a reason Peter Jackson increased the roles of all three female characters in the movies. And that reason? An overabundance of manliness!”